A Wisp Of a Chance
by Ryuko-chan
Summary: A self-insert gone awry. Awry in the manner that the character turned out to be separate of me. Zel's becoming bored, and he misses all of the others. What should he do? Go with the aqua haired princess and get a job, or follow the golden haired woman?


Hello! Hi! Konnichiwa! or Konbanwa! (depending on the circumstance) And all around greeting. I'm sorry if you don't like gratuitous self- insertion fics. ::sticks out tongue at you:: Leave. ::jerking thumb at exit:: If you don't like this story, read We are what we are, my songfic, it's a lot like this, except less me in it. There's a kitty! Anyway. This fic, if you haven't already left, is based right after the first season. Well, at least right after Zel left the giant group after the first season. I know he did, I just don't know whether it was right after or a while after. (knowing Zel, right after) Anyway. To all of those who haven't left.. (Nani? There are people who haven't left yet?) Enjoy my gratuitous fic.  
  
A wisp of a chance  
  
Zelgadis Graywers, chimera and descendant of a guy who died TWICE, sipped his coffee mildly. He glanced at the door of the tavern, as a tall woman came in. She was smiling, and looking all around the room.  
  
*Hmm, probably after some friend of hers..* he thought, getting back to his coffee. Out of habit, he adjusted his cowl. He let a hint of a smile pass over his normally blank face. He was a little proud of himself for even coming here. Before he met Lina and the others, he would have never even thought of visiting a town this large. True, this tavern was all but deserted, which is what piqued his curiosity about the woman. Her hair was held back by a curved comb, and there was a long staff strapped to her back. She looked around at the tables, kind of touching each of them with her hand. She grimaced at the greasy surface that met her touch. She looked around. And, of course, due to a combination of Zel's rotten luck, and the fact that there were only three tables in the tavern, and the other was in use, she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned.  
  
"Hi," she said, smiling. Zel put down his coffee, giving her a skeptical glance through his cloak. She pointed to the other seat at the table, "Um, would you mind if I sat down here?" she asked. He sighed.  
  
"Not really." He said reluctantly. She frowned and sat. As it was obvious that this guy was sensitive about his appearance, she made an effort to not stare at him, but Zel could tell that she was curious about his appearance. He rested his chin on a fist.  
  
"Are you-" she started. Then stopped. She smiled, "Hi, I'm Ryuko." She said, offering a hand. He shook it, eyebrow raised beneath his cloak.  
  
"My name is Zelgadis." He said shortly. At the mention of his name, her smile faded quickly into a mask of shock. Her eyes were wide in surprise. He sat back.  
  
"You're. Zelgadis Greywers?" she asked. Now it was his turn to be shocked.  
  
"How do you know my name?" he asked. She blushed.  
  
"Oh, em, well, I'm a *former* shrinemaiden, turned researcher, and I used to live in, Sairaag." She said, as a way of not explaining at all.  
  
"And you know my name how?" he asked. She sighed.  
  
"It's really quite a long story." she murmured. He crossed his arms.  
  
"I'm listening." He said firmly. She sighed, and sat back.  
  
"Well, you see, I was a shrinemaiden until a few months ago, you see, I was praying at the shrine, when I got this vision. It was the dark lord, and a sorceress, also there was a swordsman, and a shaman. I was haunted by this image, and so I looked up a red-haired sorceress in the records and, well-" she said.  
  
"You came up with Lina Inverse." He finished for her.  
  
"Yes." She said, biting her lip, "I contacted everyone in the town looking for the others, and came up with a Gourry Gabriev, who I recognized from living in Sairaag. And a Zelgadis Greywers." She said.  
  
"A lot of research for a shrinemaiden to do." He remarked mildly.  
  
"Yeah, well, I told you, shrinemaiden-turned-researcher. Anyway, I spent a while looking for anyone who had seen it, and, sort of searching for Lina Inverse. And, though I didn't find her, I found this other shrinemaiden, who lived in Sairaag as well. Of course, I and my family had long since moved away from there, but when I heard of the demolition, I had to go back. If only to see if Flagoon was still alive."  
  
"And this shrinemaiden was?" Zel asked, though he knew the answer.  
  
"Silphiel, her name was Silphiel." Ryuko said, "She told me everything, from the whereabouts of The Seyruun princess to the defensive powers of Lina Inverse. And The great beast Zanifar. She really talks quite a lot when you ask her to."  
  
"And so now you know the entire story?" Zel asked. She nodded, head down.  
  
"I honestly never thought I'd come face to face with one of the most important figures in the death of the dark lord Shabranigdo." She said quietly. Zel laughed.  
  
"Me? No. It was all Lina." He said.  
  
"But still, if you hadn't been there, she wouldn't know the basest information, which she needed to reach Rezo." She pointed out, finger near Zel's face in a position which would become very familiar to him in the coming years.  
  
"So, how did you manage to use this information?" He asked, trusting this woman not at all, since she seemed to know so much about them. It would be impossible for any one person to get so much information on them, even talking to Silphiel.  
  
"I didn't. What would I use it for? It makes a wonderful story, but I know if I tried to tell it to anyone, they wouldn't believe me." She said. The waitress stepped up, and Ryuko calmly ordered a cup of tea. Zel set down his coffee, and asked for a refill. It seemed he would be here for a while. He frowned under his cowl at the woman sitting opposite him. She was garbed in a simple brownish copper outfit, with a long cape. She had let her hair grow past the normal shrinemaiden cut, and it was a goldeny brown. The staff she had brought in was leaning on the table. He scowled at her.  
  
"So, you just know all this, with no provocation, no reason? I mean, did you even know who we were?" he asked, trying to grasp her reasoning. She smiled secretively over her teacup.  
  
"Well, now, that's just a stupid question, isn't it? Of course I knew who you were, who doesn't know of Lina Inverse, dragon spooker, and bandit killer. And of course, I had heard of Gabriev-san, he lived in my town, besides, that Silphiel wouldn't stop talking about him. You, I admit, were something of a mystery to me. In my vision, I didn't get a clear look at your face, and Silphiel was sort of mute when it came to describing you. I think she's scared of you." Ryuko finished smugly. Zelgadis readjusted his cowl around his face.  
  
"Well, that's just fine with me.." he said.  
  
"I did, however, get a bit of a description when I met up with the people of the town of Seyruun." She said. Zel smirked.  
  
"Talked to Amelia, did you?" he said,  
  
"She had nothing but good to say about you." Ryuko remarked.  
  
"Well, she doesn't know me very well." Zel said.  
  
"I believe her exact words were, 'At first, he may look villainous, but he is truly a crusader of Justice!' What's with her, anyway.." Zel looked up.  
  
"No one knows." He said. She smiled.  
  
"Anyway, out of all the people who did all this. righteous stuff, I thought you were the one with the most interesting story. I am a researcher, after all, so I figured that a man that was one-third Golem, one-third blue demon, and one-third human, would be an interesting sight to see." She said. Zel fumed.  
  
*Of course, another scientist to study the freak show! I honestly don't know why I bother even dealing with people!* He said. She noticed.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry to offend you, I had heard that you were sensitive about your appearance." She said apologetically, "Gomen nasai."  
  
"Sensitive?" he said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Really, I'm quite sorry, if I embarrassed you.. It's really hard to talk to a cowl. I'm just-" she blushed, "I suppose I'm not quite used to talking to people yet, even after interviewing all those. anyway, I need to get out more often, so I don't offend people." Suspiciously, Zel raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Didn't get out enough as a shrinemaiden?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
"Oh, no, not at all." She said sincerely. She blushed furiously, flustered, "I'm really quite sorry, I hope I didn't offend you.." Zel softened, if just a touch. She turned, afraid to look at him, with a blush, prominent on her face. He shrugged.  
  
"It's Ok, I guess, not like it really matters, I got more remarks than that when I was traveling with Lina and the others. To tell the truth, Amelia's first words to me were 'who's that suspicious looking guy over there?' I honestly think that they just kept me around for the hell of it." He said.  
  
"Weren't they your friends?" Ryuko asked. Zel nodded.  
  
"Well, yes, but they still made remarks, actually, they weren't doing it to be cruel, it was mostly Lina, and she has a weird sense of humor." He said.  
  
"Oh really," Ryuko asked, he had her full attention now, "What were they like?"  
  
"Well, the first time I met Lina, she seemed to be a childish person, very selfish, and very fiery. But, really, she's the most powerful sorceress of our age, at least the most powerful that I've heard of. At first glance, Gourry is just a random moron, but really, he's quite.. I wouldn't say smart, but skilled. I really haven't formed opinions on Amelia or Silphiel, except to say that Amelia is a bit obsessive, and Silphiel is very skilled at white magic." He paused, "Why am I telling you all this?" he asked rhetorically. She ignored the rhetorical part.  
  
"Because you like me?" she asked. Zel raised an eyebrow, "Because you think I'm interesting?" she asked. Zel sighed, "Because you want me to go away?" she asked. He thought on that one, "Or is it because you miss them?" she finished, smiling.  
  
"I suppose. It really isn't the same, being in a tavern without Gourry and Lina fighting." He said. She smiled cryptically.  
  
"Well, don't worry too much on that, it seems like you people are fated to get together whenever there's a crisis to the world. After all, you came back when they faced Kopii Rezo, and I'm sure they appreciated that." Zel rubbed his forehead.  
  
"All I know is that all this fighting evil just leads me farther and farther from finding a cure." He said.  
  
"Finding a cure for your chimera body?" Ryuko asked in disbelief, "From what I hear, it has gotten you through more than one tight scrape, most of them where your normal body would not have survived.." she said meaningfully. Zel frowned.  
  
"Well, I don't think you have a very valid opinion." He said. She looked him in the eye, or as near as she could.  
  
"Well, I think you're just a little vain." She said. He stood up.  
  
"Vain?!? How could I be vain with this face?" he said, whipping off his cowl. She gazed mildly at the face he had so many times deigned hideous. Then she took a sip of tea. She opened her mouth.  
  
"Very nice.." she said, clapping her hands. Zel was, to say the least, confused.  
  
"What?" he said, sitting back down, forgetting the fact that his cowl was off.  
  
"Oh, nothing, I was just congratulating you. On taking off your hood. I just wanted you to take it off, I had heard that when you were with the Slayers, you kept it off most of the time." She said mildly, "I was thinking, maybe a solid focus of ire would get you to let go of your silly inhibition." Zel glared at her.  
  
"And you don't have any snide remarks on my face?" he said warily.  
  
"Let me just see," she said. She put a finger on his chin, studying his face with a hand to her own. She turned his head this way and that, studying it from every angle, until he finally pulled away.  
  
"Well?" he said. She shrugged.  
  
"It's really not that horrible." She remarked. He gaped, "you're still human, you're still breathing, you have new powers to use, and you have invulnerability, I would be happy." She said.  
  
"HAPPY?" was his response. She looked him in the eye.  
  
"You're cute." She said, noticing the look on his face, "I couldn't say the same if you were dead." She finished.  
  
"I would still be.. 'cute' as a human." He said pissily.  
  
"You wouldn't be a legend." She said curtly. She leaned over the table, "before I leave, and, since you so.. graciously showed me your big secret, would you like to know mine?" she asked. He gave her a death look, then sighed.  
  
"Sure." He said. She smiled.  
  
"Follow me." she said, waving him away from the table. They walked into the cold night, her carrying her staff, him, hand on hilt, waiting for her to make a move.  
  
"So.." he said cautiously.  
  
"You're still suspicious of me, ne?" she asked. He nodded. "And rightly so." She said, smiling smugly, "All that stuff about being a shrinemaiden was a lie." He growled.  
  
"I thought so, a shrinemaiden wouldn't keep all those legends to herself." He said. She smiled, tapping her nose with a finger, "Who are you then?"  
  
"My name is Dryosea." She said, "My friends call me Ryuko.. I'm, well, here." She said. She closed her eyes, and shouted, a breathy shout, golden light collected in her hands, and she shone. Her form disappeared as the light expanded. Zel was gazing on in incredulous shock. In her place was a gigantic golden dragon. The dragon smiled.  
  
::So, do you like me better in this form?:: She asked, smiling. He gasped.  
  
"Well, that answers my questions.." he said.  
  
::Zelgadis Greywers, know this, you will be needed, soon, so just go on with your life, and:: she smiled, ::take off your mask more often:: she looked up to the sky, and spread her massive wings, causing the air to rush down at Zel. He coughed.  
  
"A Ryozoku." He said. He walked back to the tavern. A commotion had started there.  
  
*What could that be?* he thought, quickly throwing up his mouth cover. A man with a guard's uniform on, greeted him.  
  
"Are you a mercenary?" he asked. Zel considered that.  
  
"Sure, why not?" he said. The guard gave him a look.  
  
"We're recruiting for the kingdom of Zoana, they need a skilled person to help them. We're willing to pay any price." He said. Zel considered.  
  
*Holy book, that's where they keep that holy book.* he thought.  
  
"Take me to this leader, I'll manage to attempt an offer." He said, smiling. The dragon's words echoed through his head.  
  
"It seems like you people are fated to get together whenever there's a crisis to the world."  
  
*I suppose it must be true* he thought, smiling.  
  
The End 


End file.
